My point was that lolo made a general statement about dipoles that is not universally applicable: "the response from the back wave of a good dipole IS spectrally similar to the front wave"
I don't think that he would consider the old Orion without the rear tweeter as an example of a bad dipole.

And why is the wife important? She is not suppose to object to what happens in the listening room. I mean, seriously, are you really going to try to set up a high quality audio system around a living room decor? No, it's the other way around. The decor is part of the system.

that's Man talk!

I am trying the "impossible". I think the only limit is the room size and imagination. If you have both, can't see why you can't turn up a nice looking living room into a good listening room. Surely, it's more expensive and you might loose some hair in the process..

Markus, why don't you just relax.. I am too young to have tried the "old" Orion, and I don't care to be honest. Things have improved, and that's what counts. The "old" Orion was not true dipole and you could also say the "new" Orion is not CD, that's why there is now an LX521, a true CD dipole up to 7khz+, and it WILL have spectrally coherent reflexions.
What the heck? Thanks for the ones who keep improving things I say!!

You know we diyers like to experiment. But really for me what set the LX521 apart was the driver integration. A top to bottom cohesiveness that made it feel less like a speaker and more like music. I guess the man has worked hard on his crossovers.

Every time I have listened to an in wall system it has sounded very flat (pun intended), lacking in 3-dimensionality.

Well, that's probably how stereo sounds. Spaciousness is created by reflections from directions other than where stereo speakers are typically located. Now we can either add reflections by utilizing the room or by adding speakers (and channels). I believe the latter approach is superior.

Quote:

Originally Posted by john k...

Some how this is different than even large baffle speakers (like my 3' x 3 1/2' NaO DW).

Didn't find anything about that design on your site - what can one expect from a 2 min visit

Markus,
I'm not sure why you say that an on-wall or on/in-wall speaker would have any shipping issues, perhaps you have some experience with that problem?

As far as having a dedicated room for sound I would bet if you took a poll that you would find that is the exception rather than the rule to listening to music. As far as building an on-wall or in wall enclosure I don't see that this is any harder for a diy builder to create than some of the fancy enclosure you can find on this site. At least in the United States where we have very common building codes we can assume that we have a minimum distance between wall studs that we can design around. I have seen many on-wall speakers in the audio industry but most are just consumer quality and aren't going to satisfy most audio people here on this site.

Haven't we been playing with semi-dipoles with the Bose 901 speaker for years. The idea is not new in any sense. Multi-channel sound also is nothing new, just the implementation and electronics have evolved over time. I understand how some like that sound, I just prefer a direct radiator in the regards to localization that is fairly lost with most dipole speakers. I even still have a pair of old Altec horn loaded loudspeakers still in the house for when I feel like listening to that type of sound. I think that each type of speaker has it's place. The thing that turned me away from horn loaded speakers was the awful horn honk that was so prevalent with PA type of systems. By my avatar you can see that I spent much time working with this type of speaker system and I know that this problem can be overcome. There is no perfect solution and the development continues. That is what makes audio interesting, the continuing evolution of the designs.

Spaciousness is created by reflections from directions other than where stereo speakers are typically located. Now we can either add reflections by utilizing the room or by adding speakers (and channels). I believe the latter approach is superior.

what about having both? Matrix decoder from 2 channels and omnidirectionnal surround speakers firing up ambiance only. Works wonders. Sure, it's maybe not the original recording anymore, if you are a purist. But boy, it can blow you up big time illusion wise. For example I had extremely good results with Celi's EMI archive recordings which are less than optimal on standard stereo setup.